MOSCOW, April 9 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday the G8
was in agreement in rejecting North Korea's recent provocative
behaviour and urged all sides to pursue diplomacy to calm the
increasingly tense situation in northeast Asia.

Speaking before a regularly scheduled meeting of Group of
Eight (G8) foreign ministers later this week in London, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Russia shared its
partners' concerns about North Korea.

"We are in solidarity with them as regards the rejection of
Pyongyang's current provocative and bellicose line of conduct,"
he said in an interview with state news agency RIA that was
posted on the ministry's website.

"At the same time, we must not renounce political and
diplomatic efforts, as any alternative brings the threat of
profound upheaval in Northeast Asia," he said.

Russia has stepped up criticism of North Korea after the
Soviet-era client state conducted a nuclear test in February,
which led to new U.N. Security Council sanctions that both
Russia and China, the North's closest ally, approved.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday also
reiterated that Pyongyang's violations of the U.N. Security
Council were unacceptable.

"The situation is very serious anyway, nuclear explosions
and rocket launches are not a joke. But the rhetoric is playing
a no less harmful role," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax
news agency.
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